Association of Vermont Conservation Commissions

This project was to have the Beaver Meadow’s wetland complex classified as a Class I wetland with a 400’ buffer, vs. the normal 100’ buffer. The 66-acre Beaver Meadow wetland complex is located within the towns of Ripton and Bristol with a small section in Middlebury, and is wholly within the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF). It is owned and managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The Beaver Meadows complex has been identified as an Ecological Special Area by the US Forest Service.

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Funding from AVCC allowed the Burke Conservation Commission to Hire Northwoods Stewardship Center to write a Forest Management Plan for a town forest in Burke, Vermont. The Town forest is 9.4 acres of primarily softwood, with some hardwood, a small perennial stream, and a forested wetland. Although, not particularly usable for human recreation, it offers excellent wildlife habitat.

The project was initiated after the Town received public requests for improved local permitting process guidance and explanation for what the purpose is for new zoning regulations addressing river corridors, forest blocks and wildlife corridors. The Selectboard appointed a committee of landowners and business owners to develop a permit guide, mirrored on the State of Vermont's "Do you need a State Permit?"

A draft guide was completed by the committee and $1,500 through the VNRC Small G.. Read More

The Randolph and Braintree Conservation Commissions have been working together to extend our reach with a number of public outreach activities. Over the past year we've led a winter bird walk through one of our town forests, had a speaker come in to talk about the local deer populations and are planning another springtime bird walk and a presentation on vernal pools. We're able to reach more people by combining forces. Randolph has good public meeting spaces and the Braintree commission has a.. Read More

The Bolton Conservation Commission (BCC), the Association of Vermont Conservation Commissions and the High Meadows Fund presented: 'Animals of the North: What will Global Climate Change Mean for Them?' by Susan Morse, forester, wildlife ecologist and founder of Keeping Track, at Smilie Memorial School on October 4, 2017. Sue's powerpoint presentation about northern animals and the effect that our warming climate is having upon them was illustrated with her stunning, award-winning photography .. Read More

A 1.6 mile Wilderness Trail was completed in a remote corner of Bradford's conserved Wrights MT/Devil's Den Town Forest that is managed by the Bradford Conservation Commission. Using funds from AVCC's Tiny Grant Program that was matched with money from the Friends of Wrights MT Fund, Upper Valley Trails Alliance was contracted to complete the work. Under the direction of UVTA staff, four trail crews in UVTA's High School Summer Odyssey Program, two crews from Dartmouth College's Tuck Progr.. Read More

The Town of Bolton Conservation Commission engaged Arrowwood Environmental to perform a Floodplain Forest Inventory, including documenting existing flora (woody and herbaceous) and areas of existing forest within the the Town, on both sides of the Winooski River. This was accomplished with both the help of those floodplain landowners who allowed access to their land and a survey conducted from the river itself, and use of aerial maps. The inventory expands upon Arrowood's previous work for th.. Read More

David and Wilhelmina Smith, owners of Highland Lodge in Greensboro, recently fulfilled a dream to conserve, in perpetuity, 76 acres west of Craftsbury Road and south of North Shore Road. At a ceremony in Highland Lodge, the Smiths met with Tracy Zschau, conservation director of the Vermont Land Trust (VLT), and Julie Curtin, VLT attorney, to sign a conservation easement agreement with the land trust.
The agreement provides that the Smiths and future owners of the Lodge will not develop .. Read More

This survey, conducted during the second week of June, 2016, included, as its primary product, an updated map of vernal pools for the City of Montpelier (City). The focus of this effort was on field-verifying potential vernal pools formerly identified in a 2007 Natural Community Inventory (Inventory) conducted on behalf of the Montpelier Conservation Commission (MCC) for the City. Other vernal pools, not identified in the Inventory, were also field-surveyed. These included potential vernal po.. Read More

Journey's End is a well-used swimming hole and spectacular waterfall carved in the bedrock of Foote Brook, a cold water stream which flows into the Lamoille River. The property contains 25 forested acres along Foote Brook. The brook contains high quality trout habitat and the property hosts deer yards, songbird habitat, and a forested buffer along Foote Brook. Access is a corridor from Plot Road.
In January 2011, when the land adjoining the waterfalls was on the market as a house lot,.. Read More